Colbert and O'Reilly: Arrogance as an Art Form

On a typical weekday night, 11:30 pm is a moment of domestic decision: watch as the clock winds down on Iron Chef or switch over to the Colbert Report.

My appetite for Colbert -- billed as a "mega-American" in the show's intro -- was whetted by Fox's Bill O'Reilly, a man whose arrogance attains heights (or should I say depths) unmatched in (fake) journalism. Colbert's spoof of O'Reilly-style reporting elevates O'Reilly's arrogance to an art form. Monday's highlights included a report on what Colbert labeled the "so-called separation" of church and state. "In God We Trust is right there where Jesus would want it, on our money," intones Colbert, in his uber-American, love-it-or-leave-it voice.

However, I can't avoid the abysmal fact that O'Reilly -- or Papa Bear, as Colbert calls him -- and his Fox cohorts exert significant influence on the national discourse. In the pantheon of rightwing drum-beaters, O'Reilly's overblown ego is unmatched. Here's a taste of his bloviating courtesy of O'Reilly's arch nemesis, Media Matters: